Game platform

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for hosting a virtual environment in which geographic coordinates of a user are mapped to virtualized coordinates of an avatar in the virtual environment. The user&#39;s geographic coordinates may be compared to real world geographic coordinates of one or more entities having a presence in the virtual environment. The user may be presented with options for accepting or activating a first reward from the list of rewards. Responsive to the user selecting the first reward, the first reward may be activated for a first time period in association with one or more goods or services offered by the first entity. The user may be rewarded in response to verifying the user has purchased the offered goods or services during the first time period.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to and the benefit of theearlier filing date of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/914,819,filed on Oct. 14, 2019, the content of which is hereby incorporatedherein by reference in entirety. The present application further claimspriority to and is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.17/024,587, filed on Sep. 17, 2020, the content of which is also herebyincorporated herein by reference in entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed subject matter generally relates to providing a video gameplatform in which players are incentivized to purchase merchandise orservices from certain merchants or service providers. More particularly,the players may be incentivized by options for receiving one or moreprizes or rewards, in exchange for visiting in-game virtual locations orreal world merchant locations to purchase certain goods or serviceswithin a predetermined timeline.

BACKGROUND

Mobile-based video game platforms can be implemented in augmentedreality, virtual reality or mixed reality environments. Some of thesegame platforms provide a way for a player to interact with both virtualand real environments. With increased connectivity, speed and access tothe Internet, many players from all over the world can interact betweenthese environments and compete in various in-game quests.

Location-based augmented reality mobile games typically have a virtualworld geography that parallels the real world environment. Such gamesare generally focused on transitioning to specific locations such aslandmarks, monuments, or other points of interest in the real world tocomplete virtual objectives. Most of these games do not offer any realworld engagement other than going to the specific real worlddestinations to collect valuable digital goods, game offerings, or questitems.

Currently, there are no gaming platforms that are configured fordigitally rewarding a player for buying real world goods or servicesfrom the real world vendor locations. Thus, even if a vendor at a realworld location is achieving a lot of traffic from players in alocation-based augmented reality game, there is no way to track orverify if the real world goods or services are purchased by a particularplayer at a particular location.

It would be advantageous if a real time virtual-to-real world exchangeplatform could incentivize players to visit real identifiable locationsor virtual locations or sites where the players can collect different ingame items or prizes, in exchange for a player purchasing real worldservices or goods from real world brick and mortar merchants or serviceproviders.

SUMMARY

For purposes of summarizing, certain aspects, advantages, and novelfeatures have been described herein. It is to be understood that not allsuch advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particularembodiment. Thus, the disclosed subject matter may be embodied orcarried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage orgroup of advantages without achieving all advantages as may be taught orsuggested herein.

In accordance with some implementations of the disclosed subject matter,computer-implemented methods and systems are provided for hosting alocation-based reality game on a game platform. The game platform may beutilized for associating a player playing the location-based realitygame with a source of funds and determining geographic coordinates ofthe player in real world surroundings. The location-based reality gamemay include an in-game geography that parallels at least a portion ofthe geographic coordinates of the player in the real world. The player'srelative position coordinates may be monitored based on informationstored in a database. The database may include information about a listof real world merchant locations, merchant offers or merchant rewardtiers.

In some embodiments, a list of rewards associated with at least one ofthe merchant offers, merchant locations and merchant reward tiers may bedetermined based on the player interacting with a game interface oroffer. An in-game reward may be presented to the player. The gameplatform may receive and process payment transaction data associatedwith a purchased real world merchant offer associated with the player.The real world merchant offer may be matched with an in-game rewardreservation based on payment transaction data comprised of at least oneof a purchase timestamp and a merchant id.

In accordance with one or more aspects, computer-implemented methods andsystems are provided for hosting a location-based virtual environment inwhich the one or more users may participate. Geographic coordinates of auser may be determined in the real world, using data provided by apositioning system. The real world geographic coordinates of the usermay be mapped to virtualized coordinates of an avatar in the virtualenvironment. The user's real world geographic coordinates may becompared to real world geographic coordinates of one or more entitieshaving a presence in the virtual environment. The user may be presentedwith options for accepting or activating a first reward from the list ofrewards. Responsive to the user selecting the first reward, the firstreward may be activated for a first time period in association with oneor more goods or services offered by the first entity. The user may berewarded in response to verifying the user has purchased the offeredgoods or services during the first time period.

In certain embodiments, a computer-implemented system comprising one ormore processors in communication with storage media for storing locationdata for one or more users is provided. The system may host alocation-based virtual environment in which the one or more usersparticipate and determine geographic coordinates of the user in the realworld using data provided by a positioning system. The user's real worldgeographic coordinates may be compared to real world geographiccoordinates of one or more entities having a presence in the virtualenvironment. The one or more entities being present in the virtualenvironment to promote goods or services by way of one or more offerspresented in the virtual environment. A list of rewards associated withat least one of the offers may be accessed based on the comparison. Theuser may be presented with options for accepting or activating at leasta first reward from the list of rewards, the first reward beingassociated with purchasing goods and services from a first entity.Responsive to the user selecting the first reward, the first reward maybe activated for a first time period in association with one or moregoods or services offered by the first entity.

In one aspect, payment transaction data from a transaction processingentity may be received, in response to the user purchasing at least oneof the one or more goods or services offered by the first entity. Thepayment transaction data may comprise at least one of a timestamp and anidentifier, the timestamp indicating a time of purchase and theidentifier identifying the first entity or an offer by the first entitythat was activated by the user. The user may be notified that the userhas been awarded the first reward, in response to verifying the user haspurchased the offered goods or services associated with the first rewardduring the first time period based on the payment transaction data.

In some embodiments, the virtual environment is a location-based realitygame. Information about the entities' real world coordinates or goods orservices offered by the entities or the associated rewards may be storedin a database accessible by the one or more processors. The source offunds may be associated with a user identifier identifying the user whenthe user purchases at least one of the one or more goods or servicesusing the source of funds. The transaction data may comprise the useridentifier.

Depending on implementation, the user may not be awarded the firstreward, in response to the system failing to verify that the userpurchased the offered goods or services associated with the first rewardduring the first time period, or due to insufficient funds, or due to aninvalid source of funds. Further, the user may be unable to accept oractivate the first reward, in response to the system's inability toverify that the user is associated with a source of funds.

In some aspects, the user may be offered to apply for a new source offunds or enter information about a pre-established source of funds. Inresponse to being approved for the new source of funds or verificationof the pre-established source of funds, a unique identifier may beassociated with the user, allowing the system to activate a selectedreward for the user based on the unique identifier being associated withthe user and an established source of funds.

The details of one or more variations of the subject matter describedherein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the descriptionbelow. Other features and advantages of the subject matter describedherein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from theclaims. The disclosed subject matter is not, however, limited to anyparticular embodiment disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, show certain aspects of the subject matterdisclosed herein and, together with the description, help explain someof the principles associated with the disclosed implementations asprovided below.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment in accordance withone or more embodiments, wherein a game platform is provided for alocation-based reality game.

FIG. 2 is an example flow diagram of a method of providing players withdigital in game reward options for a location-based game, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an example flow diagram of a method of providing a digital ingame reward in exchange for a real world item for a location-based game,in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIGS. 4A and 4B provide block and flow diagrams of example computingenvironments and methods that may be utilized to perform one or morecomputing operations or processes as consistent with one or moredisclosed features related to player enrollment, purchase flow, offeractivation and reward processing.

FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 illustrate example screenshots of variousgraphical user interfaces for reporting, controlling, processing oractivating certain game features, in accordance with one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example computing system that may beutilized to perform one or more computing operations or processes asconsistent with one or more disclosed features.

The figures may not be to scale in absolute or comparative terms and areintended to be exemplary. The relative placement of features andelements may have been modified for the purpose of illustrative clarity.Where practical, the same or similar reference numbers denote the sameor similar or equivalent structures, features, aspects, or elements, inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATIONS

In the following, numerous specific details are set forth to provide athorough description of various embodiments. Certain embodiments may bepracticed without these specific details or with some variations indetail. In some instances, certain features are described in less detailso as not to obscure other aspects. The level of detail associated witheach of the elements or features should not be construed to qualify thenovelty or importance of one feature over the others.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example operating environment 100 is illustratedin which a location-based reality game may be used by a player tointeract with a virtual world having a geography that parallels the realworld. The location-based reality game may execute on one or more gamecomputing systems 110 such as a general purpose computer, a handheldmobile device (e.g., a smart phone), a tablet (e.g., an Apple iPad®), agame console, a portable game device, a wearable computing device, orother communication capable computing device. The location-based realitygame may be configured to operate through a web browser, as a dedicatedapp or other type of software application running either fully orpartially on a game computing system 110.

In one example, the game computing system 110 may communicate over acommunications network with a game platform 120 to access data stored ina database 130. The game computing system 110 may also access servicesprovided by a transaction processing entity 140. Depending onimplementation, database 130 may be positioned local to, remote to, orembedded in one or more of game computing system 110 or other systems onwhich the location based reality game or transaction processing entity140 execute on. A server system may be configured on the game platform120 or transaction processing entity 140, or both, to service one ormore requests submitted by the game computing system 110 (e.g., clientsystem) via the game platform 120. The game platform 120 may beimplemented over a local or wide area network (e.g., the Internet).

Depending on implementation, the location-based reality game and gameplatform 120 may be implemented over a centralized or distributed (e.g.,cloud-based) computing environment as dedicated resources or may beconfigured as virtual machines that define shared processing or storageresources. Execution, implementation or instantiation of location-basedreality game or the associated in-game objects, as well as the gameplatform 120, and the related features and components, may be over aserver system that defines a special purpose machine that providesremotely situated client systems, such as the computing system 110, withaccess to a variety of data and services as provided in further detailbelow.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, example methods for providing a gameplatform in which players are incentivized to visit select geographiclocations are disclosed. A location-based game environment may beprovided in which a virtual space within the game is mapped to thegeolocation of the player on earth (S210). When the player is physicallypresent in a certain geographic location, the virtual space in the gamecorresponds to the player's physical location on earth, hereafterreferred to as the player's geo-space or geo-location. The playergeo-location may be monitored (S220). In response, the games graphicaluser interface or the in-game position of the player's avatar in thegame may be updated in real-time (or near real-time) as the player movesin the geo-space (S230).

In accordance with one or more implementations, a player may beincentivized to visit merchant locations in the geo-space (i.e.,real-world brick and mortar merchant locations), as identified in thegame, in order to collect valuable game prizes or features (e.g.,digital goods, game offering, etc.) in the game's virtual environment.For example, when a player seeks to collect a prize (S240), the player'sgeo-location may be used to generate a map that shows the position ofone or more participating merchant stores at which the player maycollect one or more prizes (S250). Otherwise, the game may continue(S260).

Referring to FIG. 3, in certain aspects, to collect a prize, a playermay select a location on the map that is provided in the gameenvironment and use that map to move in the real world toward theselected location. Once the player reaches the intended destination onthe map (e.g., a coffee shop), the player may decide to purchase one ormore identified real world objects (e.g., a cup of coffee) from the realworld store or merchant at the destination as designated by an in-gamemenu, for example. As provided in further detail below, the player maycollect the prize in the game environment in exchange for making adesignated purchase from the merchant, provided that the player can beidentified.

Depending on implementation, and without limitation, in order toidentify the player, the player may use an instrument that identifiesthe player (S310). The identification process is preferably performed atthe time of purchase, or may be performed at some time prior or afterthe time of purchase (e.g., a pre- or post-purchase registration processthrough a portal or social media account). The identifying instrumentmay be a digitized instrument such as a magnetic or chip-enabled card, adigital token, or other type of instrument that can electronically ordigitally identify the player. In an example embodiment, the identifyinginstrument may be associated with a source of funds (e.g., a creditcard, a debit card, a money pool, a points pool, crypto currency, orother type of account) which may be registered by the player and used topay for the item purchased from the merchant (S320).

If the player does not wish to be identified, or if the player uses anunregistered source of funds, or decides not to purchase an identifieditem (e.g., an item suggested in the game environment), then the playermay not be able to collect the prize associated with the suggested saleitem (S330). The player may be identified by, for example, using aregistered source of funds. The identification may be performed, forexample, when the transaction for the purchase of the item issuccessfully completed (e.g., by way of swiping a credit card). Once thepurchase is completed, a notification of the purchase may be submittedto the game platform 120 by the transaction processing entity 140(S340).

In one or more aspects, the notification of purchase may includeidentifying information associated with the player and the location ofsale and the merchant's data, as provided in further detail herein.Based on the information collected and the notification of purchase, theplayer is able to collect the prize in the game environment (S350). Inone example embodiment, the player may receive a notification afterpurchasing an item from the merchant store that a prize is available forcollection, or the notification may indicate that the correspondingin-game prize has been delivered or added to the player's in-gameprofile, or account, or that the prize is available to be redeemed bythe player next time the player starts a game session.

The game infrastructure (e.g., game platform 120), depending onimplementation, may be able to determine that a real world purchase wassuccessfully completed based on the identifying information collectedabout the player at the time of the real world transaction. Theidentifying information may be available through processing systems,entities or networks (e.g., transaction processing entity 140) thatvalidate and clear the real world transaction associated with thepurchase of a target item from a target merchant. The processing entity140 may collect and provide, in addition to the player's location andpurchase information, data about the store at which the item waspurchased and other information that may be deduced from the collectedinformation.

The following provides an example scenario in which a player collects aprize (e.g., a digital coin) in a game environment such as operatingenvironment 100 of FIG. 1. In the virtual space defined by the game, theprize may be located at a merchant location, such as a coffee shop orfast food vendor with an associated physical location in the player'sgeo-space. Before or at the time when the player arrives at themerchant's location in the geo-space, the game environment may displayinformation to the player indicating what items are available forpurchase from the merchant's location by correlating the geo-location ofthe player to an in-game presentation of the merchant.

In some aspects, additional information that suggest what prizes will beunlocked or collected, in the game, may be also displayed before, duringor after one or more selectable items are purchased from the merchant atthe identified geo-location. It is noteworthy that in certainembodiments, the player need not necessarily physically visit amerchant's geo-location in the real world to complete the purchase oractivate an offer for an in-game prize. In some aspects, the player maydecide to complete an on-line purchase of goods or services by going toa webpage or through an app, and elect to receive delivery of areal-life good or service at a later time. For example, the player mayorder coffee from Starbucks® and choose Uber Eats™ as a delivery optionto the player's current geo-location, or may purchase or rent a moviefor future viewing in order to activate or unlock an in-game offer orincentive.

The player may, in certain embodiments, select one or more of the items(e.g., from an in-game menu) to purchase offered goods and services. Theplayer may offer a credit card, for example, to pay the merchant for theselected items. The player's source of funds (e.g., a credit card, debitcard, money pool, points pool or other type of account) may be processedby a transaction processing entity 140 (e.g., Visa®). Once the purchaseis successfully completed, a notification is provided to the gameplatform 120 (e.g., game studio or game vendor) confirming the purchase.Based on the purchase confirmation, the particular in-game prize orprizes associated with the real world goods or services purchased may beredeemed by the player or may be digitally delivered or conveyed to theplayer in the game environment, either at the time of purchase orsometime thereafter (e.g., by way of delivering the prize notificationto the player inbox).

Player and merchant-related information may be collected during atransaction by game platform 120 (or a proxy entity), either directly orindirectly, and may be used to build a profile for the player or themerchant, or both. Based on the player or merchant profile, futureoffers may be delivered to the player or advertising programs may beoffered to the merchant. For example, the player may receive, either inthe game or in the real world, offers to visit the same or similarmerchant locations in the future, depending on the type of informationthat have been collected from, or made available by, the player at thetime, after or prior to the transaction.

The merchants may also receive information about transaction timelinesand player demographics who purchased the items. In certain embodiments,the merchant may also receive additional valuable consumer profile data,which may or may not be anonymized by game platform 120, depending onplayer permission settings, opt-out options and privacy laws.Advantageously, using the above process, a vendor or merchant is notrequired to develop or incorporate any application programminginterfaces or computing infrastructure into the merchant's transactionprocessing system. The merchant simply processes the player's creditcard or other source of funds in the normal course of business withouthaving the overhead associated with reserving or activating additionalcomputing resources, whether in form of processing or storage resources.

In some embodiments, as long as a player links or registers the sourceof funds (e.g., a credit card number) with an in-game service provider(i.e., one or more processing entities that manage the game-relatedtransactions), the player will be appropriately identified (e.g., basedon the credit card number or other identifying data) and will be able tocollect the associated prizes in the game. The merchant may have anarrangement with the in-game service provider to incorporate one or moremerchant stores or geo-locations into one or more games managed by thein-game service provider. The incorporation of the merchant stores oritems offered at a merchant store may be in form of any graphical userinterface (e.g., in-game objects, banners, etc.).

As an example, a coffee shop merchant may have 100 locations in aparticular geo-space (e.g., Seattle). The merchant may enter into anarrangement with the in-game service provider to incorporate, forexample, 26 of the coffee shop's geo-locations into a first game, and 24of the coffee shop's geo-locations into a second game. The in-gameservice provider may be able to, depending on the merchant's objectives,use different prizes for different purchase items or geo-locations. Forexample, an in-game service provider may offer a highly desirablein-game prize, if a player purchases a first item on the menu from amerchant store in a first geo-location. The in-game service provider mayoffer a less desirable in-game prize, if a player purchases a seconditem on the menu from a merchant store in a second geo-location. In thismanner, the merchant may be able to pay a higher fee to incentivizepurchases in merchant stores at geo-locations that do not havesufficient traffic (e.g., a new store) by way of the in-game serviceprovider offering more valuable in-game prizes at the stores with lowertraffic.

Depending on statistics and demographic information associated with aprize or a game, the merchant may be able to direct traffic to selectedgeo-locations of players that fit a certain category or consumerprofile. For example, a first game may be known to be popular amongplayers in a first group (e.g., 25 to 30 year-old females) and a secondgame may be known to be popular among players in a second group (e.g.,12 to 18 year-old males). Merchants can identify the demographics theywant to target and the game platform can decide or push the merchants'offers in some games over others accordingly. For example, the merchantor the game platform may decide to provide in-game prizes in the firstgame in association with a first merchant store that sells goods orservices appropriate for players that fit the first group (e.g., womenclothing or jewelry), and provide in-game prizes in the second game inassociation with a second merchant store that sells goods or servicesappropriate for players that fit the second group (e.g., young men shoesor sporting goods).

As provided in further detail herein, in some implementations, offersprovided to a player may be time locked. That is, offers available atone or more merchant locations may be available only during certainwindows of time. For example, an offer may be available for redemptionfrom 2 pm to 6 pm, or for 10 days or 30 days from activation oracceptance of an in-game offer by the player. According to somevariations, a player may be required to spend a certain amount (e.g., atleast $10) or purchase a certain number of products from one or moreidentified merchants during the designated time in order for an offeredincentive or reward to be awarded to the player. In some embodiments,the player may be required to spend a cumulative amount over a definedperiod of time. For example, the player may be required to spend $100 atone or more identified merchant locations during a period of one monthin order to receive or unlock one or more in-game prizes.

According to the methodologies provided herein and the variousembodiments disclosed, a participating merchant may thus benefit fromincreased revenue by attracting players with desirable profiles,backgrounds or interests to select merchant stores. Merchantparticipation may be based on a subscription fee arrangement or anongoing royalty revenue generation scheme. A participating transactionprocessing entity 140 (e.g., Visa) may also benefit from charging atransaction fee for processing the related transactions and providingthe identifying information about the player and the merchants to thein-game service provider. The in-game service provider may generaterevenue based on an arrangement made with the merchants and may sharesome of the generated revenue with the content provider (e.g., theentity that develops or provides the game environment).

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4A, a player may interact with a user device(e.g., game computing system 110) to invoke a game session for a gamesupported on the game platform 120 (S410). During the game, the playermay receive an in-game offer or incentive for purchasing merchandise orservices (S415). This offer may be associated or promoted in associationwith a service provider or merchant that has entered into an agreementwith the game platform 120 to advertise within the game environment. Thegame platform 120 may control or have an arrangement with an entity(e.g., a proxy) that controls, for example, the database 130 and one ormore game servers (not shown) to implement and tool one or more games orgaming platforms for the purpose of providing in-game incentives andoffers to all or select players.

In one embodiment, the player interacts with a user interface (e.g., seeFIGS. 5 through 7) to activate or accept an in-game offer or incentive(S420). The offer may be for the player to accept a mission within thegame, for an identified period of time, for example, during which theprovided incentive in the game is active. The incentive may be for theplayer to purchase a real-world item from a merchant at a regular or adiscounted rate. Upon verification of the purchase, the player willreceive (or may become eligible to receive) an in-game reward.

Depending on implementation, the reward may include game currency, freeelevation to a higher game level, free loot, extra energy or stamina,upgraded weapon, exclusive mini-games, opportunity at winning additionalor better prizes, or other types of rewards or incentives that mayencourage a player to purchase an item or subscribe to a service outsidethe game environment. In certain embodiments, the player will continueto receive the in-game reward for the duration that the incentive isactive.

In order to receive the incentive, the player may be associated with aunique identifier (ID) provided and assigned to the player by the gameplatform 120. To obtain the ID, the player may be offered to enroll witha financial institution or a transaction processing entity 140 (S425).If the player decides to enroll, transaction processing entity 140 mayprovide the player with the option to input information about a paymentsource, such as a credit card, debit card, a bank account or otherpayment mechanism.

In certain aspects, the player may apply for a new credit card.Alternatively, if the player already has a credit card number, theplayer may interact with the game platform 120 to enter the credit cardnumber preferably directly to the transaction processing entity 140. Thepayment source information is then associated with a unique ID for theparticular player (S430). If the player cannot register for a newpayment source or otherwise provide a payment source, the player may bedenied enrollment (S435).

The transaction processing entity 140, upon completion of the enrollmentprocess, may tokenize the credit card number (e.g., using a hash orrandomizer mechanism) to generate a token that represents the player'scredit card number or other source of funds. The token may be alsoencrypted so that, if intercepted by an unscrupulous party, the player'ssensitive credit card information cannot be easily revealed or stolen.

In certain aspects, the token or a token ID associated with the token(desirably in addition to a user ID associated with the player) may bepacketized and communicated from the transaction processing entity 140to the game platform 120. This tokenization process limits both the gameplatform 120's access and its liabilities associated with maintaining orstoring the player's sensitive data under certain regulations. The gameplatform 120 may store the token and user ID in a database 130 toidentify the player and player-related transactions within the game.

Once the player has successfully applied for enrollment or has beenenrolled in the game platform's 120 incentivization program, the playermay be provided with an interface within or outside the game environmentto make a purchase. Notably, the purchase may be for an item or aservice either at a physical store or alternatively on-line via avirtual store, app, webpage or within the game environment. As providedin further detail herein, the player may be required to activate anoffer and purchase the offered products or services with a fund sourcethat is enrolled in the incentive program, desirably within an active oreligible time period, for the player to receive the offered in-gamereward.

Referring to FIGS. 4B and 5 through 9, to activate an offer for aplayer, the game platform 120 determines whether the player has acceptedan in-game offer and the conditions associated with the offer (S440).Referring to FIG. 5, for example, the players may accept an in-gamemission and interact with a user interface to affirmatively confirmtheir acceptance of the offer and the terms of the offer, including thetime the offer expires. For example, a player may accept or activate anoffer to purchase item 1 from merchant A during period P.

Upon acceptance by the player, game platform 120 forwards the relevantoffer information to the transaction processing entity 140, preferablythrough an application programing interface (API) established betweenthe game platform 120 and the transaction processing entity 140 (S445).The offer information may be transmitted in one or more communicationpackets and include data identifying the player (e.g., a unique ID), theoffer, and the merchant. The transaction processing entity 140 mayprocess the information and respond to the game platform 120 to confirmthat the offer information associated with the player is received andrecognized (S450).

In accordance with one or more embodiments, if the player is enrolledwith the transaction processing entity 140 (e.g., recognized based onthe unique ID associated with the source of funds), then the offer isactivated (S455, S460). Depending on implementation, the offer may beactivated for a particular time period after which the offer expires(i.e., the offer is deactivated). If the transaction processing entity140 does not recognize the player (e.g., if the player's unique ID isnot recognized, or if the player's source of funds has insufficientfunds, or if the credit card has expired), the activation of the offerfails and the game platform 120 is notified so appropriate measures canbe taken to, for example, re-enroll the player (S465).

For an activated player offer and the reward to be processed, the gameplatform 120 may monitor information communicated to the game platform120 from the transaction processing entity 140 about purchases made byenrolled players who have active offers. When an enrolled player makes apurchase using his enrolled credit card, for example, the transactionprocessing entity 140 recognizes the purchase as associated with theplayer's identification information maintained by the transactionprocessing entity 140 in a database 130.

Processing of an in-game transaction may be based on the activationinformation provided to the transaction processing entity 140 by thegame platform 120. For example, when a player accepts an offer, anincentive may be activated and reported to the transaction processingentity 140 in association with a specific merchant. The transactionprocessing entity 140 then notifies the game platform 120, when theplayer purchases one or more goods or services from the specificmerchant. In certain aspects, the player is identified as an eligiblepurchaser for that merchant, only during the time period the offerremains active.

If the above-noted requisite conditions are met, the transactionprocessing entity 140 reports, desirably through an API establishedbetween the transaction processing entity 140 and the game platform 120,that a purchase has been made by the player. The reported parameters mayinclude the time and date of the purchase, the player's identificationinformation, the amount of purchase and the merchant information. Uponreceipt of the reported parameters, the game platform 120 may determinewhether the purchase satisfies the conditions of the offer (e.g.,whether the purchase was made during the active time period, for anacceptable amount, the particular goods/services, and from a validmerchant).

Accordingly, once the player's purchase is verified by the game platform120, the player's reward is processed, unlocked and delivered. Incertain implementations, if the game platform 120 determines that someof the parameters or conditions of the offer have not been met, theplayer may be notified and the reward will not be processed unless theplayer takes further action. For example, if the offer is no longeractive, the player may be given an option to reactivate the offer, ifstill available, by accepting a new mission within the game environment.

In accordance with example embodiments, a transaction processing entity140 (e.g., Visa) may be configured to read an identification data, suchas stock keeping unit (SKU) level data, on merchandise purchased via afund source (e.g., a Visa card). SKU data is digital informationassociated with merchandize and typically used by retailers to identifyand track inventory. SKU level data may be forwarded to the gameplatform 120 and utilized to determine the total amount spent by aplayer on incentivized merchandize through the game, as well as to alsocollect data on each individual transaction. The ability to collect andanalyze a higher level of transaction detail provides an opportunity toreward users on specific items they purchase by way of customizing thein-game offers towards merchandize and services that are more relevantto a player, based on the player profile being routinely updated usingthe collected SKU and transaction related data.

In certain embodiments, the game platform 120 may associate a uniqueidentifier (i.e., a player ID) with a source of funds (e.g., credit cardnumber) used by a player during an in-game purchase. In this manner,individual in-game purchases by the player may be identified anddiscreetly associated with the player. Based on such association, aplayer's purchases may be tracked and the player may be rewardedaccording to an incentive program or schedule based on frequent visitsor total amount spent during a predetermined number of visits.

A player may be rewarded for making one or more purchases from one ormore merchants in a certain time period (e.g., buy five burgers fromBurger King® in the next 10 days and unlock XYZ feature or reward in thegame). To accomplish this, the game platform 120 may track how manytimes a player made an eligible in-game purchase and tally the purchasesto unlock a certain reward. In one example embodiment, a metaphoric orvirtual punch card object may be associated with a particular player andspecific merchant(s) such that a predetermined number of transactionsbetween the player and the merchant(s) need to be identified before anin-game reward is provided to the player. For example, repeatedpurchases may need to occur within a time window in order for the playerto qualify for an in-game reward.

In certain aspects, an online game may be configured to have a set ofpossible rewards with associated probabilities for each reward. That is,when a player makes a purchase at a given merchant, a random reward maybe determined based on predefined statistics or probabilities. Theplayer can then choose if the player can earn an additional reward basedon the rewards they have already earned. For example, in one approach,the player may need to collect a predefined set or subset of the rewardsto win a certain more desirable reward (e.g., hit a jackpot).

In certain implementations, the game platform 120 may be configured tohost multiple games such that in different games the same (or different)incentives may be offered to a player. In one example, a player may beprovided with the opportunity to opt-in for an incentive from a firstmerchant (e.g., Burger King) for a first game (e.g., Clash of Clans)during a predetermined period of time (e.g., 24 hours). During theidentified incentive period, the incentive offered by the first merchantmay not be offered (i.e., be visible) to the particular player in anyother game. In this manner, the first merchant's offer is provided witha higher level of priority with respect to other merchants because theplayer opted for the first merchant's offer first. The commissionarrangement may thus be shared specifically with the selected game,since the offer is unavailable in other games. After the predeterminetime period for the opt-in expires, the same offer may re-appear for allgames on the network for that player.

In certain embodiments, a game may be configured to include a rolloverwinning pool or lottery feature, so that instead of accepting a rewardearned, the player can contribute the reward toward a lotto pool andreceive a random lotto number. The more times the player contributes,the more lotto numbers he receives, and the higher the chances ofmatching a series of lotto numbers at the time of a drawing (e.g.,daily, weekly, monthly). The winnings can be structured based on thenumber of matching lotto numbers (e.g., match 6 out of 6 and win thelotto; match 5 out of 6 and win a smaller sum, and so on). In thismanner, the player is incentivized to contribute to the winning fund orpool. In certain aspects, one or more vendors may bid to sponsor eachlottery drawing. The sponsoring vendors may also contribute to the poolfor a bigger payout, thereby attracting a larger number of players tothe game and resulting in increased vendor traffic.

Example Detailed Implementation Using Tokenized Funds

In one or more example implementations, when a player opens alocation-based game, the player may be presented with a map. This mapmay have several elements such as loot crates or enemies with which theplayer can interact. Generally, these elements exist in the game and arenot associated with real life structures and are simply anchoredgeospatially and superimposed on the map. The game environment maypresent to the player unique offers that are geo-spatially anchored tophysical merchant locations. These offers will be displayed in game andthe player can choose the offer-merchant combinations in which they areinterested. The offer may indicate what digital goods the player willreceive in exchange for making a purchase at the merchant and if thereis a minimum purchase amount. If the player makes a purchase thatsatisfies the offer requirements, the player will receive a real-timenotification indicating that their digital goods have been depositedinto their account.

In order to determine if a player makes a purchase at a brick and mortarmerchant, the following information may be required: fund sourceinformation, such as a credit card number or some hashed or tokenizedform of it, a unique identifier for the merchant the player purchasedfrom and a stream of all payment transactions at the merchant that weremade using a fund source that may have been previously tokenized. Thetransaction processing entity platform provides access to thisinformation in a secure and compliant manner. The transaction processingentity provides a fund source, such as a credit card, tokenization formthat the game platform leverages for obtaining player fund sourceinformation securely. A merchant that accepts the transaction processingentity may be assigned a merchant ID, so the merchant can be informed ofthe transaction processing entity and from that point forward thetransactions for that merchant that are made with tokenized funds willbe remitted to the game platform.

When a transaction is made with tokenized funds, the transactionprocessing entity will communicate with the game platform in real-timeand transmit the transaction details, e.g. tokenized funds, merchant,transaction amount. The game platform may use this information to locatethe associated player and determine the active offer for the merchantand credit the players account for whatever digital goods that wereadvertised in the offer. The game platform may then send the player apush notification informing him of the credit. In some embodiments, anapplication programing interface (API) may be utilized by the gameplatform that facilitates spatial queries for nearby offers and supportswebhooks for offer validation. A webhook refers to a callback (e.g., atransfer protocol push API) and is a way for an application to provideother applications with real-time information.

The merchant portal allows merchants to manage their subscription level,offers and anything related to their account. The hosted fund sourcetokenization form is a simple branded form that allows players tosecurely provide their fund source details to the transaction processingentity and for the game to obtain the tokenized fund source number. Whena transaction is made with a tokenized fund source, the transactionprocessing entity may consume a webhook and provide transactionsdetails. In one embodiment, card swipes and merchant items, merchantplatform and the game platform interact to determine merchant and playeridentity and purchases.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, and 7, the card swipes and merchant items allowplayers to connect a valid card, lock resources, and swipe forresources. Further, the card swipes and merchant items allow certainlocations to host game items at their physical location, distribute gamebenefits to players, and notify the game in real time via the paymentprocessor that a certain card made a purchase at an applicable merchant.

As shown in FIG. 5, players may connect or authenticate their creditcard number one time per game, for example. Once a card is connected,rewards will trigger automatically upon purchase.

As shown in FIG. 6, the game platform may read the players location andsurface opportunities to collect from merchants in a radius around thegeo-location of a player. Once a player sees a reward in the game, theplayer can make a purchase to collect in-game rewards from the locationin real time.

As shown in FIG. 7, a world space corresponding to the real world withadditional overlays on top of the real world may be provided to a playeror a user. As the player navigates the game environment, the systemcompares current position to a reward database. Processes may run in thebackground to determine one or more new rewards from a reward tier. Aplayer may be notified of a merchant offer based on offer informationmade available to the game platform. A reservation object may be createdin a database when the user locks the offer which calls the transactionprocessing entity to activate an offer API and ties the user to a rewardID. When the user purchases the merchant offer, the offer is matched tothe user reservation by purchase timestamp and merchant ID.

Once the offer is identified in transactions, a database entry iscreated confirming the transaction. This database entry may have thefollowing data fields: amount, timestamp, transaction processing entitytransaction id, transaction processing entity merchant ID, game platformmerchant ID, game platform commission amount, transaction processingentity fee for transaction, transaction processing entity fund sourceid, transaction processing entity offer ID, user id, and user fundsource id. Push notification or email may be sent to user from a webhookin real time as the transaction is processed. The computing system onwhich the game is executed, then displays notification or emailreceived.

The redemption process of the merchant offer is such that when the userselects the offer, an activate offer request is sent to the transactionprocessing entity's system which ties the user's fund to the transactionprocessing entity fund linked offer. When the player physically swipes,scans, inserts, taps or the like, their fund source at the merchant, asthey are attached to the transaction processing entity fund linkedoffer, the transaction processing entity will then send a packet withrelevant transaction info to the webhook. The webhook functiondetermines reward for user, sends the user a notification, and storesthe purchase info in a database.

Referring to FIGS. 8 and 9, the merchant platform allows merchants tosign up via web portal, select a reward tier level for in game use,indicate valid locations to be used in game, access the merchantanalytics platform, and pay fees such as a monthly fee or fee perattributed swipe or purchase. The game platform may allow game studiosto use a software development kit (SDK) to integrate the game platformsystem into their game properties, set custom game rewards based onreward tier level and keep a percentage of revenue that the merchant payper swipe or purchase.

As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, merchants can see how often games on the gameplatform showed the merchant offer to players, how many players ended upswiping, locking or buying, and the average ticket price and totalrevenue. Merchants can add their business or other locations to theplatform. Merchants can set a spend limit on each campaign per location.In some embodiments, the merchants on the game platform may not selectthe outcome of a user making a purchase at their location. Merchants maysubscribe to a tiered level of the reward tier model. The video gamestudios decide what items to give away in their game according to whatitems are in each tier.

It is noteworthy that the details and embodiments disclosed herein areprovided by way of example and should not be construed as limiting thescope of the disclosed subject matter to the particular details orspecific embodiments. Certain implementations may provide or apply thedisclosed concepts and processes, with some variations, to any game,game platform, or game device, whether location-based or not. Forexample, a player may use an identification mechanism (e.g., a creditcard) to register with one or more merchants or game platforms. In-gameoffers may be presented to the player to incentivize the player to visitor shop at one or more merchant location. If the player uses theregistered card within defined parameters (e.g., to purchase certainitems, at certain minimum prices, at certain locations, within a certaintime period), then the player will receive a reward in the game, oncethe parameters have been met.

Referring to FIG. 10, a block diagram illustrating a computing system1000 consistent with one or more embodiments is provided. The computingsystem 1000 may be used to implement or support one or more platforms,infrastructures or computing devices or computing components that may beutilized, in example embodiments, to instantiate, implement, execute orembody the methodologies disclosed herein in a computing environmentusing, for example, one or more processors or controllers, as providedbelow.

As shown in FIG. 10, the computing system 1000 can include a processor1010, a memory 1020, a storage device 1030, and input/output devices1040. The processor 1010, the memory 1020, the storage device 1030, andthe input/output devices 1040 can be interconnected via a system bus1050. The processor 1010 is capable of processing instructions forexecution within the computing system 1000. Such executed instructionscan implement one or more components of, for example, a cloud platform.In some implementations of the current subject matter, the processor1010 can be a single-threaded processor. Alternately, the processor 1010can be a multi-threaded processor. The processor 1010 is capable ofprocessing instructions stored in the memory 1020 and/or on the storagedevice 1030 to display graphical information for a user interfaceprovided via the input/output device 1040.

The memory 1020 is a computer readable medium such as volatile ornon-volatile that stores information within the computing system 1000.The memory 1020 can store data structures representing configurationobject databases, for example. The storage device 1030 is capable ofproviding persistent storage for the computing system 1000. The storagedevice 1030 can be a floppy disk device, a hard disk device, an opticaldisk device, or a tape device, or other suitable persistent storagemeans. The input/output device 1040 provides input/output operations forthe computing system 1000. In some implementations of the currentsubject matter, the input/output device 1040 includes a keyboard and/orpointing device. In various implementations, the input/output device1040 includes a display unit for displaying graphical user interfaces.

According to some implementations of the current subject matter, theinput/output device 1040 can provide input/output operations for anetwork device. For example, the input/output device 1040 can includeEthernet ports or other networking ports to communicate with one or morewired and/or wireless networks (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a widearea network (WAN), the Internet).

In some implementations of the current subject matter, the computingsystem 1000 can be used to execute various interactive computer softwareapplications that can be used for organization, analysis and/or storageof data in various (e.g., tabular) format (e.g., Microsoft Excel®,and/or any other type of software). Alternatively, the computing system1000 can be used to execute any type of software applications. Theseapplications can be used to perform various functionalities, e.g.,planning functionalities (e.g., generating, managing, editing ofspreadsheet documents, word processing documents, and/or any otherobjects, etc.), computing functionalities, communicationsfunctionalities, etc. The applications can include various add-infunctionalities or can be standalone computing products and/orfunctionalities. Upon activation within the applications, thefunctionalities can be used to generate the user interface provided viathe input/output device 1040. The user interface can be generated andpresented to a user by the computing system 1000 (e.g., on a computerscreen monitor, etc.).

One or more aspects or features of the subject matter disclosed orclaimed herein may be realized in digital electronic circuitry,integrated circuitry, specially designed application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computerhardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof. These variousaspects or features may include implementation in one or more computerprograms that may be executable and/or interpretable on a programmablesystem including at least one programmable processor, which may bespecial or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructionsfrom, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, atleast one input device, and at least one output device. The programmablesystem or computing system may include clients and servers. A client andserver may be remote from each other and may interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

These computer programs, which may also be referred to as programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code, mayinclude machine instructions for a programmable controller, processor,microprocessor or other computing or computerized architecture, and maybe implemented in a high-level procedural language, an object-orientedprogramming language, a functional programming language, a logicalprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal. The term “machine-readablesignal” refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/ordata to a programmable processor. The machine-readable medium may storesuch machine instructions non-transitorily, such as for example as woulda non-transient solid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or anyequivalent storage medium. The machine-readable medium may alternativelyor additionally store such machine instructions in a transient manner,such as for example as would a processor cache or other random accessmemory associated with one or more physical processor cores.

To provide for interaction with a user, one or more aspects or featuresof the subject matter described herein may be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, such as for example a cathode ray tube (CRT) ora liquid crystal display (LCD) or a light emitting diode (LED) monitorfor displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice, such as for example a mouse or a trackball, by which the usermay provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices may be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well. For example, feedbackprovided to the user may be any form of sensory feedback, such as forexample visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; andinput from the user may be received in any form, including acoustic,speech, or tactile input. Other possible input devices include touchscreens or other touch-sensitive devices such as single or multi-pointresistive or capacitive trackpads, voice recognition hardware andsoftware, optical scanners, optical pointers, digital image capturedevices and associated interpretation software, and the like.

Terminology

When a feature or element is herein referred to as being “on” anotherfeature or element, it may be directly on the other feature or elementor intervening features and/or elements may also be present. Incontrast, when a feature or element is referred to as being “directlyon” another feature or element, there may be no intervening features orelements present. It will also be understood that, when a feature orelement is referred to as being “connected”, “attached” or “coupled” toanother feature or element, it may be directly connected, attached orcoupled to the other feature or element or intervening features orelements may be present. In contrast, when a feature or element isreferred to as being “directly connected”, “directly attached” or“directly coupled” to another feature or element, there may be nointervening features or elements present.

Although described or shown with respect to one embodiment, the featuresand elements so described or shown may apply to other embodiments. Itwill also be appreciated by those of skill in the art that references toa structure or feature that is disposed “adjacent” another feature mayhave portions that overlap or underlie the adjacent feature.

Terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments and implementations only and is not intended to be limiting.For example, as used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” maybe intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that theterms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, processes,functions, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presenceor addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, processes,functions, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein,the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more ofthe associated listed items and may be abbreviated as “/”.

In the descriptions above and in the claims, phrases such as “at leastone of” or “one or more of” may occur followed by a conjunctive list ofelements or features. The term “and/or” may also occur in a list of twoor more elements or features. Unless otherwise implicitly or explicitlycontradicted by the context in which it used, such a phrase is intendedto mean any of the listed elements or features individually or any ofthe recited elements or features in combination with any of the otherrecited elements or features. For example, the phrases “at least one ofA and B;” “one or more of A and B;” and “A and/or B” are each intendedto mean “A alone, B alone, or A and B together.” A similarinterpretation is also intended for lists including three or more items.For example, the phrases “at least one of A, B, and C;” “one or more ofA, B, and C;” and “A, B, and/or C” are each intended to mean “A alone, Balone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, orA and B and C together.” Use of the term “based on,” above and in theclaims is intended to mean, “based at least in part on,” such that anunrecited feature or element is also permissible.

Spatially relative terms, such as “forward”, “rearward”, “under”,“below”, “lower”, “over”, “upper” and the like, may be used herein forease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship toanother element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It willbe understood that the spatially relative terms are intended toencompass different orientations of the device in use or operation inaddition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if adevice in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or“beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” theother elements or features due to the inverted state. Thus, the term“under” may encompass both an orientation of over and under, dependingon the point of reference or orientation. The device may be otherwiseoriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatiallyrelative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly. Similarly, theterms “upwardly”, “downwardly”, “vertical”, “horizontal” and the likemay be used herein for the purpose of explanation only unlessspecifically indicated otherwise.

Although the terms “first” and “second” may be used herein to describevarious features/elements (including steps or processes), thesefeatures/elements should not be limited by these terms as an indicationof the order of the features/elements or whether one is primary or moreimportant than the other, unless the context indicates otherwise. Theseterms may be used to distinguish one feature/element from anotherfeature/element. Thus, a first feature/element discussed could be termeda second feature/element, and similarly, a second feature/elementdiscussed below could be termed a first feature/element withoutdeparting from the teachings provided herein.

As used herein in the specification and claims, including as used in theexamples and unless otherwise expressly specified, all numbers may beread as if prefaced by the word “about” or “approximately,” even if theterm does not expressly appear. The phrase “about” or “approximately”may be used when describing magnitude and/or position to indicate thatthe value and/or position described is within a reasonable expectedrange of values and/or positions. For example, a numeric value may havea value that is +/−0.1% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−1%of the stated value (or range of values), +/−2% of the stated value (orrange of values), +/−5% of the stated value (or range of values), +/−10%of the stated value (or range of values), etc. Any numerical valuesgiven herein should also be understood to include about or approximatelythat value, unless the context indicates otherwise.

For example, if the value “10” is disclosed, then “about 10” is alsodisclosed. Any numerical range recited herein is intended to include allsub-ranges subsumed therein. It is also understood that when a value isdisclosed that “less than or equal to” the value, “greater than or equalto the value” and possible ranges between values are also disclosed, asappropriately understood by the skilled artisan. For example, if thevalue “X” is disclosed the “less than or equal to X” as well as “greaterthan or equal to X” (e.g., where X is a numerical value) is alsodisclosed. It is also understood that the throughout the application,data is provided in a number of different formats, and that this data,may represent endpoints or starting points, and ranges for anycombination of the data points. For example, if a particular data point“10” and a particular data point “15” may be disclosed, it is understoodthat greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, less than orequal to, and equal to 10 and 15 may be considered disclosed as well asbetween 10 and 15. It is also understood that each unit between twoparticular units may be also disclosed. For example, if 10 and 15 may bedisclosed, then 11, 12, 13, and 14 may be also disclosed.

Although various illustrative embodiments have been disclosed, any of anumber of changes may be made to various embodiments without departingfrom the teachings herein. For example, the order in which variousdescribed method steps are performed may be changed or reconfigured indifferent or alternative embodiments, and in other embodiments one ormore method steps may be skipped altogether. Optional or desirablefeatures of various device and system embodiments may be included insome embodiments and not in others. Therefore, the foregoing descriptionis provided primarily for the purpose of example and should not beinterpreted to limit the scope of the claims and specific embodiments orparticular details or features disclosed.

One or more aspects or features of the subject matter described hereincan be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) computer hardware, firmware,software, and/or combinations thereof. These various aspects or featurescan include implementation in one or more computer programs that areexecutable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including atleast one programmable processor, which can be special or generalpurpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmitdata and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device,and at least one output device. The programmable system or computingsystem may include clients and servers. A client and server aregenerally remote from each other and typically interact through acommunication network. The relationship of client and server arises byvirtue of computer programs running on the respective computers andhaving a client-server relationship to each other.

These computer programs, which can also be referred to programs,software, software applications, applications, components, or code,include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and can beimplemented in a high-level procedural language, an object-orientedprogramming language, a functional programming language, a logicalprogramming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As usedherein, the term “machine-readable medium” refers to any computerprogram product, apparatus and/or device, such as for example magneticdiscs, optical disks, memory, and Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs),used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmableprocessor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machineinstructions as a machine-readable signal.

The term “machine-readable signal” refers to any signal used to providemachine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor. Themachine-readable medium can store such machine instructionsnon-transitorily, such as for example as would a non-transientsolid-state memory or a magnetic hard drive or any equivalent storagemedium. The machine-readable medium can alternatively or additionallystore such machine instructions in a transient manner, such as forexample, as would a processor cache or other random access memoryassociated with one or more physical processor cores.

The examples and illustrations included herein show, by way ofillustration and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which thedisclosed subject matter may be practiced. As mentioned, otherembodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structuraland logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing fromthe scope of this disclosure. Such embodiments of the disclosed subjectmatter may be referred to herein individually or collectively by theterm “invention” merely for convenience and without intending tovoluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single inventionor inventive concept, if more than one is, in fact, disclosed. Thus,although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, any arrangement calculated to achieve an intended, practical ordisclosed purpose, whether explicitly stated or implied, may besubstituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure isintended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of variousembodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and otherembodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to thoseof skill in the art upon reviewing the above description.

The disclosed subject matter has been provided here with reference toone or more features or embodiments. Those skilled in the art willrecognize and appreciate that, despite of the detailed nature of theexample embodiments provided here, changes and modifications may beapplied to said embodiments without limiting or departing from thegenerally intended scope. These and various other adaptations andcombinations of the embodiments provided here are within the scope ofthe disclosed subject matter as defined by the disclosed elements andfeatures and their full set of equivalents.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may containmaterial, which is subject to copyright protection. The owner has noobjection to facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent documentsor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but reserves all copyrights whatsoever.Certain marks referenced herein may be common law or registeredtrademarks of the applicant, the assignee or third parties affiliated orunaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks isfor providing an enabling disclosure by way of example and shall not beconstrued to exclusively limit the scope of the disclosed subject matterto material associated with such marks.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented system comprising one ormore processors in communication with storage media for storing locationdata, the one or more processors being configured to: host alocation-based virtual environment in which one or more usersparticipate; determine geographic coordinates of a user based on dataprovided by a positioning system in communication with a user deviceassociated with the user; map the geographic coordinates of the user tovirtualized coordinates of an avatar in the virtual environment, theavatar being associated with the user, and the virtualized coordinatesof the avatar in the virtual environment corresponding to the user'sgeographic coordinates; responsive to physical location of the userdevice changing from a first position to a second position in the realworld, update the geographic coordinates of the user and the virtualizedcoordinates of the avatar to reflect the change from the first positionto the second position both in the real world and in the virtualenvironment, respectively; compare the geographic coordinates of theuser to real world geographic coordinates of one or more entities havinga virtual presence in the virtual environment, the one or more entitiesbeing present in the virtual environment to promote goods or services byway of one or more offers presented in the virtual environment, thecomparing generating a first result; providing a list of rewardsassociated with at least one of the offers based on the first result,the user accepting one or more options to activate at least a firstreward from the list of rewards, the first reward being associated withpurchasing goods and services from a first entity; and responsive to theuser selecting the first reward, activate the first reward for a firsttime period in association with one or more goods or services offered bythe first entity.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein payment transactiondata is received from a transaction processing entity, in response tothe user purchasing at least one of the one or more goods or servicesoffered by the first entity.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein thepayment transaction data comprises at least one of a timestamp and anidentifier, the timestamp indicating a time of purchase and theidentifier identifying the first entity or an offer by the first entitythat was activated by the user.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein theuser is awarded the first reward, in response to verifying the user haspurchased the offered goods or services associated with the first rewardduring the first time period based on the payment transaction data. 5.The system of claim 1, wherein the user is associated with a source offunds.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual environment is alocation-based reality game.
 7. The system of claim 1, whereininformation about the entities' coordinates or goods or services offeredby the entities or the associated rewards are stored in a databaseaccessible by the one or more processors.
 8. The system of claim 4,wherein the source of funds is associated with a user identifieridentifying the user when the user purchases at least one of the one ormore goods or services using the source of funds.
 9. The system of claim5, wherein the transaction data comprises the user identifier.
 10. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein the user is offered to apply for a new sourceof funds, if the user is not awarded the first reward in response to atleast one of: failing to verify that the user purchased the offeredgoods or services associated with the first reward during the first timeperiod, failing to verify the user purchase, due to insufficient fundsin the source of funds, or failing to verify the user purchase, due toan invalid source of funds.
 11. A computer-implemented methodcomprising: hosting a location-based virtual environment in which one ormore users participate; determining geographic coordinates of a user inreal world using data provided by a positioning system; comparing theuser's real world geographic coordinates to real world geographiccoordinates of one or more entities having a presence in the virtualenvironment to generate a first result, the one or more entities beingpresent in the virtual environment to promote goods or services by wayof one or more offers presented in the virtual environment; accessing alist of rewards associated with at least one of the offers based on thefirst result; presenting to the user options for accepting or activatingat least a first reward from the list of rewards, the first reward beingassociated with purchasing goods and services from a first entity, inresponse to determining the user is associated with a source of funds;responsive to the user selecting the first reward, activating the firstreward for a first time period in association with one or more goods orservices offered by the first entity; receiving payment transaction datafrom a transaction processing entity, in response to the user purchasingat least one of the one or more goods or services offered by the firstentity, the payment transaction data comprising at least one of atimestamp and an identifier, the timestamp indicating a time of purchaseand the identifier identifying the first entity or an offer by the firstentity that was activated by the user; and notifying the user that theuser has been awarded the first reward, in response to verifying theuser has purchased the offered goods or services associated with thefirst reward during the first time period based on the paymenttransaction data.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the virtualenvironment is a location-based reality game.
 13. The method of claim11, wherein information about the entities' real world coordinates orgoods or services offered by the entities or the associated rewards isstored in a database accessible by the one or more processors.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the source of funds is associated with auser identifier identifying the user when the user purchases at leastone of the one or more goods or services using the source of funds. 15.The method of claim 14, wherein the transaction data comprises the useridentifier.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user is not awardedthe first reward, in response to failing to verify that the userpurchased the offered goods or services associated with the first rewardduring the first time period.
 17. The method of claim 2, wherein theuser is unable to accept or activate the first reward, in response tofailing to verify that the user is associated with a source of funds.18. The method of claim 18, wherein the user is offered to apply for anew source of funds or enter information about a pre-established sourceof funds.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein in response to beingapproved for the new source of funds or verification of thepre-established source of funds, a unique identifier is associated withthe user.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the unique identifier isincluded in the payment transaction data to verify the user haspurchased the offered goods or services associated with the first rewardduring the first time period based on the payment transaction data.